Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-08-22
,iate the progress that is jumping onward at

ciate the progress THAT Is Jumping onward at
Geographic speed" IS ~ ..r,.-.,s. ......
This statement of Senator Teller is true.
Weappreciate too little the immense develop
ment that is going on all over the country.
both east and west, and especially in the west.
As to mining alone, our yearly production
of golfhas been since 1880 one-tbird of that
of the whole world, and all the gold in the
world today Is not a valuable by nearly three
t1nths as are the yearly products Of the in.
dustries OF the United States. Mulhall, the
great statistician, estimates that there are TO-
355 tons OF gold in the world, and this Is worth
1920 900 900. The products of our indus
tries in . single year amount all told
to $40 ,000, 000, OO0 or nearly %, 600. 900, 900
more. OF this amount of gold the Amer
lean continent has contributed about half.
and the United States leads today as gold
producer. This continent leads also in silver,
and it has produced "a per cent. Of all the
silver produced in the last 500 years. This
product, however, came mainly from Mexico
and Peru, but the United States Is fast
coming to the front, and it Is now treading
on the heels Of Spanish America. 1t leads
the world also in copper, and q single mine,
the Calumet and Hecla, says Andrew Car
negie, has within two years paid out "a .OOO,
600 in dividends. We have, as l told YOU
three-fourths of all the coal in the world, and
Colorado produces twice as much lead as the
lead mines Of Great Britain. We now pro-
ducs more zinc than Great Britain, and we
are third among the zinc producing nations
of the world. In 1880 we produced IS tons
and 724 pounds Of gold and more than 1000
tons of silver, or in other words at ten tons to
the car more than five car loads Of gold and
100 car loads of silver. All of these minerals
we dig from the earth; we pay out nothing
but our muscle for them. Their product is all
clear gain, and we grow by them just this
much weather. every year. Is it any won-
der, with our crops and our manufactures,
that the country prospers, and who can esti-
mate the possibilities of its futurel This may
seem to be spread eagleism, but it is the
frozen truth and it will not hurt to invoice
our stock as q nation now and then.
Leadville now contains about II 900 people.
Its mines are doing we'll and hear much
good Of the town. There is none Of the rush
of its past history. but q steady growth is
going ON. 1t is now reached from Denver by
two lines OF railroad and the fare from Den
yer there is s. These lines make practically
the same time, though one Of them is nearly
twice as long as the other, and it takes the
best part of twelve hours to ride from Dem
yer to the heart of the mining regions. The
big prices Of 1879, when hay was 500 q ton
nd other things in proportion, have passed
away, and the stores are down to a civilized
hasis They tell a story here Of a merchant
Of the Israelitish persuasion who in early
times was accustomed to charge 81 apiece for
needles. He was asked how he could have
the cheek to charge such price. He replied
1T is the freight. mine frent-the freight"
So it was with Leadville when men went
there in wagons and paid fifteen cents a mile
for stage riding.
The wonderful stories Of the fortunes made
and lost at Leadville have been often told,
but find one in Ernest Ingersolrs "Crest of
he Continent" that have not seen published
before in the newspapers. 1t relates to the
dead mans claim. A miner named Scotty
had died and his friends intended to give him
a royal layout. 1t was in the winter and
they hired a miner to dig his grave for 800
There wns ten feet of snow aud six feet of
hard ground t. dig through. While the work
was going OH Scotty was stuffed into snow
bank. Three days passed away and the grave
digger had not yet appeared to claim his
| wages. Upon investigation it was found that
| no had struck a sixty ounce mine in digging
the grave, and he was not inclined to give
up Tue other members of the would be fu.
| neral procession at once staked out claims all
| around him, and amid the excitement Of gold
| digging Scotty ~as forgotten. He remained
| in the snow bank until the April sun scorched
| him out and his friends in tue meantime had
| honeycombed the cemetery with mining
| claims. FRANK G. CARPENTER.